The present invention relates to a device for cutting up chunks of bait fishxe2x80x94such as sardine or herringxe2x80x94, commonly termed chum, and for grinding up such chum. Such a device, which will be termed bait grinder, is intended to the baiting of fish having a relatively small size, such as pimps or little tunas. It is also intended to be used in cooperation with, or in place of, the chum dispenser disclosed in the patent application WO 98/58539 and intended to the amateurish baiting of big fish, such as giant tuna, shark and swordfish, known as big game and carried out according to a technique termed drifting, consisting in letting the craft used for fishing go adrift under the action of wind and sea currents.
U.S. Pat. No. 5,205,778 discloses a bait chummer whose cutting means consist of a plurality of spaced apart circular saw blades mounted on a rotatable shaft, which is intended to be manually driven by means of a hand crank and arranged within the central duct of a housing intended to feed the cutting means by gravity.
U.S. Pat. No. 3,249,257 discloses a bait chummer whose cutting means consists of a knife in the form of a reciprocating piston intended to act on the fish contained in a chute having a wall synchronically movable with the piston, which is perpendicular to the axis of such a chute, at the level of an outlet of this latter.
The present invention seeks to provide an improvement for such an amateurish fishing by providing a bait grinder as specified in claim 1 attached to this disclosure. Other features of such a device are specified in the claims dependent on claim 1 and also attached to this disclosure.
An advantage which may be obtainable with the present invention is avoiding to mess the craft and the fisher""s hands as well, while ensuring a relatively high operation range and a relatively low energetic consumption.